The Drive Project to be delivered across all areas of England and Wales – putting the focus on the perpetrator to increase victim-survivor safety
16th July 2025
Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips meets with Kyla Kirkpatrick, Director of the Drive Partnership and the Drive Partnership Board – Jo Todd, CEO of Respect, Ellen Miller, CEO of SafeLives, & Sara Jones, Executive Director at Social Finance.
The Drive Partnership welcomes today’s Home Office announcement of a £53 million investment over four years to expand the Drive Project to increase the safety of victim-survivors of domestic abuse, in all communities, by putting the focus on the perpetrators.
This is the result of ten years of working in partnership across specialist domestic abuse services and statutory agencies, and would not be possible without the collaboration of a wide range of both statutory and non-statutory partners, and the ongoing support of a range of funders, including the National Lottery Community Fund, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and Treebeard Trust, and original funders Lloyds Bank Foundation, Comic Relief and Tudor Trust.
The Drive Project is the Drive Partnership’s flagship intervention for high-risk, high-harm, perpetrators of domestic abuse. This investment will see local service providers working together with the Drive Partnership and across all agencies to deliver the Drive Project throughout England and Wales.
The Drive Partnership and its Board are pleased that the Government has committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. Alongside the need for well-funded local support and recovery services for victim-survivors, targeting perpetrators to address the root causes of violence and abuse will be essential.
The Drive Project is an evidence-based service, delivered by specialist local service providers, that increases the safety of adult and child victim-survivors of domestic abuse and helps prevent future victims by targeting perpetrators and using multi-agency working to disrupt and stop abuse. It always includes dedicated support for victim-survivors and families.
The Home Office’s investment into the expansion of the Drive Project aligns with the Drive Partnership’s 2024 Call for Further Action recommendation for consistent and evidence-informed multi-agency responses to high-risk, high-harm perpetrators across all areas. This Call for Further Action, supported by over 100 organisations, was developed with the input of the Action on Perpetrators Network, the Drive Partnership delivery and co-production partners, and SafeLives Pioneers. It also calls for recognition across government that domestic abuse is everyone’s business. It is not solely a criminal justice issue, but requires cross-departmental investment. This is a priority that the Network will continue to pursue.
The Drive Partnership has been working to end domestic abuse and protect victim-survivors in all communities for over a decade; marking 10-years of disrupting, challenging, and changing the behaviour of those who are causing harm, using a consistently evidence-informed approach. The Drive Partnership looks forward to expanding this work to protect victim-survivors, in close collaboration with specialist domestic abuse organisations and statutory partners, and would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone involved.
Shana Begum, SafeLives Pioneer & lived experience expert, said, “Perpetrator interventions are vital to breaking the cycle of domestic abuse – as a SafeLives Pioneer, I strongly believe that we have to stop asking “Why doesn’t she leave?”, and start asking “Why doesn’t he stop?”, and that is what the Drive Partnership puts into action. After working closely with the Drive Partnership for a number of years, I’m pleased to see this expansion across all areas in England and Wales so that the responsibility of domestic abuse is placed firmly on those causing harm.”
Kyla Kirkpatrick, Director of the Drive Partnership, said, “We welcome this investment from the Home Office into the expansion of the Drive Project across England and Wales because victim-survivors tell us that as well as more support for themselves, they want and need better responses to the people causing harm in their lives. They need them to be seen, held to account and stopped. The Drive Project does that and with ten years of delivery, development and evaluation behind us we know that it works.
This work can only happen if the focus is absolutely on the safety and wellbeing of the victim-survivors. This investment will see the vast majority of funding flow directly to local domestic abuse perpetrator services and victim-survivor support services, and we will be working in partnership with local services to ensure that the Drive Project is tailored to meet the needs of local communities. We look forward to the forthcoming VAWG strategy to support victim-survivor services with much-needed investment and cross-departmental commitment.”
Rosie Jarvis, Deputy Director of the Drive Partnership, said, “We warmly welcome the Home Office’s investment in the expansion of the Drive Project, which we know through its evidence base has a significant impact on harm and risk reduction in perpetrators and increased safety for victim-survivors. This investment and expansion will be a significant step towards addressing the postcode lottery of responses to high-risk, high-harm, and serial perpetrators and breaking the costly cycle of domestic abuse.”
Jess Asato MP, said, “Too often we ask why domestic abuse victims don’t leave, instead of asking why perpetrators don’t stop their abuse – so this landmark investment by the Government is incredibly welcome. I was proud to work on the early stages of the Drive Partnership which, through its innovative, evidence-driven approach, has proven that we can make victims safer and change perpetrator behaviour. This investment will be one important step towards achieving the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls.”